Unacceptable

On the HPD suspended cases mess, Commentary is like most folks. Just an H-Town citizen waiting for an explanation. Mayor John Whitmire will announce this afternoon his review committee who will try to figure out how this happened. The Chron E-Board has a take on this today. See the featured photo.

Here is the E-Board take headline:

HPD’s dropped rape case is unacceptable

Here are key parts of the take that I found interesting:

That probe, which is still ongoing, has already led to HPD Chief Troy Finner demoting two police chiefs and a panel convened by Mayor John Whitmire to further review how the department handled the suspended cases. 

And this:
Two weeks ago, when we first learned of the suspended cases, we called for a truly independent state or federal investigation. An internal probe doesn’t cut it, and neither does a mayoral task force even if it is dubbed “independent.”When investigators find suspended cases that resulted in new violent crimes being committed we expect anyone responsible for this malfeasance or negligence to be held accountable and fired.

And finally, this:

The timeline of the rape cases in question certainly puts Finner on notice. It was bad enough when Finner said he knew about the suspended cases code three years ago and only learned last month that some divisions had defied his orders to stop using it. Now that we have a concrete example of the horrific consequences that come from suspending cases that should’ve been pursued while he was chief, it’s more imperative than ever that Finner come clean with the public about who is responsible for creating this code, what he supposedly did to stop it and why certain divisions continued using it. While Finner is not solely to blame for the code’s origins — if, as he says, it dates back to 2016, former chief Art Acevedo also bears responsibility — he’ll have to show he’s taking this a lot more seriously than what we’ve seen so far. Simply demoting a couple of assistant chiefs is not what accountability looks like. 

I will go on ahead and say it. It is not looking good for the police chief.  I don’t see how he survives this fiasco. Tell me why he should. I mean, this is a mess the mayor didn’t expect to inherit.

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Even though we still have a couple of elections before the November showdowns, this is in the Chron today:

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign is warning donors this week that he’s already tied with Colin Allred and bracing for a tougher 2024 reelection campaign than GOP voters might expect.

The push comes less than a week after Allred secured the Democratic nomination in the race and six years after Democrat Beto O’Rourke emerged from relative obscurity to push Cruz to the brink of losing his seat.

While no Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since the 1990s, Cruz has been telling Republicans for weeks that they can’t take things for granted in Texas anymore, partly because of that close call to O’Rourke.

“I will say, my race here in Texas is a battleground race,” Cruz told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo last month. “My last race I won by less than three points because I’m the Democrats’ top target.”

Allred has been telling supporters he has a real shot at toppling Cruz based on limited early public polling and fundraising data. At his primary victory party in Dallas last week, the congressman acknowledged being the underdog but pointed to his history of knocking off veteran U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican, in 2018 to win his seat.

“I’m used to overcoming long odds,” Allred said, pointing not just to his races in 2018, but his upbringing as the child of a single mother and making the NFL as a linebacker despite being undrafted.

Here is the entire read: Is Ted Cruz in danger of being unseated in November? He thinks so (houstonchronicle.com).

Remember, this is Texas.  Democrats have not won a statewide race here in 30 years. I am curious to see who the Allred campaign puts in charge in Harris County. Stay tuned.

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Speaking of U.S. Senate races, former Dodger Steve Garvey will be running against Cong. Adam Schiff in the California U.S. Senate race. Garvey is running as a GOPer. Garvey and former Astros manager Dusty Baker were teammates. Garvey’s first MLB career base hit was against the Astros on September 10, 1969, at the Astrodome. Now you know.